Thursday, May 17, 2018

Womanhood Woes: The Difficulty of Balancing Kids and Career

Juggling womanhood can be complicated. While we live in a much fairer society these days, as women we’re the ones that carry, give birth to and in most cases act as the primary carer for our children. This is, of course, a wonderful, incredible experience but it can mean we’re constantly living a balancing act. If you want (or need) to continue working, you have to sort this around childcare. You need to be around when your child gets sick; you will want days off so you can see them in plays and on sports days. You will need to drop them off and pick them up from school, extracurricular activities and seeing friends all around your work. It can be challenging to have it all, but there are some ways you can make it easier. Here are a few ideas.

Work Part-Time

One thing you could do if you want or need to get back into work after maternity leave is to ask if you can work part time hours. This allows you to keep up your skills in the workplace but without missing out on too much time with your children. If and when you do want to get back into full-time work later down the line, you're already in the swing of things and it's far less of a shock to the system. If you're in a position where you don't want or need to go back to work, but don't want to lose your skills either then why not study? It could be anything from an online neonatal nurse degree to an online psychology, art or creative writing degree! If it's something you're passionate about and it can help you in your career path it's worth doing.

Find a Flexible Job

If you have a job which allows you to be flexible with your hours, this is a great way to balance work and kids. Being the boss of any kind of business is a useful strategy for balancing work and kids as you get to call the shots. There are all kinds of home based jobs you can earn money from these days. Take working as a freelancer or blogger for example. You could even set up your own home business, some ideas include selling items you have made yourself or just buying wholesale and selling for a profit. It can of course take time for these things to become established and start earning you regular money, but if you know you want to have children later on, how about doing this part-time for now and getting established. Then later on, it's a great source of income that you can work around your family without having to leave the house. If you are only just starting out in your career and know you want kids in the future, considering this kind of path allows you to get established before your children come along.

Waiting a little while until you’re established in your career before having children can be helpful. If you disrupt an established career by taking time off, you’re far more likely to get into it. Having kids earlier on can reduce your earnings over a lifetime. Lots of women are waiting until later in life to have kids, some even going to the extent of having eggs frozen just to ensure they have a backup plan.